Xiong’an Brings High Risk, High Reward for Local Industry | Sixth Tone

on June 28, 2017

While Beijing has undergone explosive growth over the last decade, a new district is now feeling some of the same growing pains. Xiong’an New Area, which comprises three counties in nearby Hebei province, has been designated the third state-level special economic zone after Shenzhen and Shanghai Pudong. Photographer Wu Huiyuan documented the lives of locals, business owners, and residents who are facing rapid change and the fear their communities will be dismantled.

Returning to Chinese Soldiers’ Graves in North Korea | Sina “Witness”

on June 28, 2017

More than 150,000 Chinese soldiers fought and died during the Korean War. Many of their bodies were never returned to China but buried in mass graves in North Korea. More than 60 years later, family members of these soldiers traveled to North Korea, many of them for the first time, to honor their fathers before Tomb-Sweeping Day.

New CSIS Report on ‘Business Models’ for Human Rights NGOs

on June 28, 2017

The Center for Strategic and International Studies recently published a new report by Edwin Rekosh exploring ways in which human rights NGOs might rethink how they approach their work internationally. Using a “business model” framework to restructure how they conceptualize non-governmental human rights work, Rekosh argues, is increasingly important in an international environment that sees multiple governments restricting foreign funding for domestic NGOs. As an example of innovation in building partnerships with other entities, Rekosh brings up the example of PILnet in China, which is “working with a large global brand to develop ongoing relationships between supply chain auditors and factory decisionmakers, on the one hand, and local labor lawyers connected to Chinese civil society organizations, on the other, in a training and consultation process supported by the global brand.”

Transitioning into Life | Tencent “Living”

on June 28, 2017

As a transgender woman from a remote village in Yunnan province, Ji Danuo experienced severe discrimination. She decided to move to Kunming where she met her partner, Lu Hua. The two have been together for two years. In this piece from Tencent’s “Living” Channel, photographer Zhou Qiang follows Ji’s quest to save enough money for sex reassignment surgery in Thailand.